A perfect portable speaker

I already have a soft-spot for Bose products. I've been a fan for over 20 years. So, when I wanted a portable speaker I started by looking in an electronics department at a local store. After all, I want to hear what the speaker sounds like before I buy it. Even if it is a Bose, I don't trust that it will be great without some careful compare and review first.

The first thing you'll notice when you pick it up is that he has some heft to it, it's very solidly built. It can run on its battery power for about 6 hours continuously. It has a replaceable battery inside of it. It sits on a rubber pad to keep it from vibrating during playback. It comes with a speaker dock that you can just set it on or pick it up from when you're ready to take it with you. It can be connected to using Blue-tooth or using a headphone jack. It will play while plugged into power and the power plug will plug directly into the speaker or into the dock.

Now that I've had it for several months I want to share my experiences...

During playback, I've not been able to turn it up so much that it distorts the sound like with some small speakers. The bass is very good, but keep in mind that it is a small speaker, even though its small it has very impressive bass to it. Its highs are good but not overpowering and the mids are great as well. It's very well rounded for something that I can fit nicely into my laptop bag!

I take it to the weekly poker game, where I will set it up on a counter top or on in a corner on the floor. It has very good and full sound that fills the entire room. The bass is incredible for its size! The typical comment I hear is, "is that <sound> coming from that little thing?" and that's usually followed up by, "How much is it?" but no matter what, it's always impressive.

Yes, it is expensive, but like they say, "you get what you pay for." Now that I've had this speaker for a while, the poker group has tried to compete with the Bose impressive sound using similar sized portable speakers. In the simple competitions using our own ears we all admit that none of them come close. You have to get a much larger speaker to approach the sound quality, but even then its hard to beat its fullness and richness. And there's nothing, that I've come across, that costs less that does as good a job as it does. It's truly impressive.

Besides using it at the poker games, I've taken it to parties where I'll put it in a book shelf or on a table in a corner and just let it play a good Pandora station softly. It never fails to turn heads and impresses with its incredible sound. I can control the volume from my phone in my pocket remotely. We've used it in one of our vehicles to play music as well, it's prefect for situations where your car stereo may not have Bluetooth or a port where you can plug in a portable device to play your music. It plays clearly and fills the entire car with sound.

An accessory that I can recommend is a cover, this is the orange one, and there are several other colors to choose from. It will protect the speaker and helps you grip it when carrying it around. Just like a phone, you should protect your investment, and increase its visibility. There's also a 12v charger you can get, but I never bothered to get that. However, if you travel a lot it may worth having.

I really think that the Bose SoundLink Mini is one of the best purchases I've made recently. If you've been on the fence, let me assure you that it's a great choice and well worth the money. I really love it and it has so many uses.

The only thing you need to be careful of is that it doesn't grow legs and walk away...